Near-Field Plasmonics of an Individual Dielectric Nanoparticle above a Metallic Substrate

Abstract

We simulate and discuss the local electric-field enhancement in a system of a dielectric nanoparticle placed very near to a metallic substrate. We use finite-element numerical simulations in order to understand the field-enhancement mechanism in this dielectric NP-on-mirror system. Under appropriate excitation conditions, the gap between the particle and the substrate becomes a “hot spot”, i.e., a region of intense electromagnetic field. We also show how the optical properties of the dielectric NP placed on a metallic substrate affect the plasmonic field enhancement in the nanogap and characterize the confinement in the gap. Our study helps to understand and design systems with dielectric NPs on metallic substrates which can be equally as effective for SERS, fluorescence, and nonlinear phenomena as conventional all-metal plasmonic structures.